Cairns Turf – Growing at Tropical Lawns for over 20 years

Tropical Lawns has been growing Cairns turf since 1989. Supremely positioned to produce tropical lawns, this family owned and operated business is situated on 60 hectares of rich alluvial soils between the Mulgrave and Little Mulgrave Rivers, 30-minutes south of Cairns city, at Gordonvale.

Marketing was initially directed to home lawns and amenity landscaping. As the business grew and expanded, Tropical Lawns branched into the sports field and erosion control markets. Today, Tropical Lawns has 12 full-time employees, most of whom are qualified tradesmen in green keeping, landscaping and mechanics. The farm has its own fleet of specialized machinery, which is now available to contract out, providing services such as top dressing sports fields, land preparation, planting turf or stolons ( runners) on golf courses and parks and even overplanting fields with a different species or variety.

Tropical Lawns is constantly investing in business development. Ongoing research and varietal selection has identified turf species and varieties that are adapted to the tropical climate and possess good environmental attributes. It has also identified many more that do not have these qualities, some of which are being promoted by others as being suited to all climates, from wet cloudy tropics to subtropical and cool season Australia.

Tropical Lawns services clients across the region, state and world. The majority of its Cairns turf is sold locally from Cooktown to Townsville, the Atherton Tablelands, Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands. The latter delivery spends three days on a barge, so special handling and cooling requirements have been developed by Tropical Lawns to ensure the turf arrives in the very best condition, with optimal survival rates.

Specialised Tropical Lawns turf varieties have also been exported to Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji and Vanuatu. Tropical Lawns has developed and holds plant variety ownership of two fine leaf grasses grown widely on resort golf course greens in tropical south-east Asia.